Old punks don't fade away: Gina Birch & Henry Rollins

Ever wonder what happens to old punks?

Well... Gina Birch, of the Raincoats, has her own My Space website to chronicle her latest adventures. While the ol' band ain't around now (damn it!), she's making her own music and doing shows at least:

"Well... I am the only (Raincoats) member right now.. so mostly playing solo, either just with my guitar, or with video projections and some playback that I recorded. The Hangovers, my last band was made up of Ida Akesson, John Frenett, Joe Dilworth, and Simon Fisher Turner, and we recorded the Slow Dirty Tears album - Mary Deigan played bass on some of the tracks and then took over from John Frenett. Dave Barbarossa joined on drums and we recorded quite a few tracks which are still brewing like a good wine or a new version of Worcester sauce."

Also note that she doesn't have a label yet for her work. Shouldn't some wise indie out there be on the case...?

As for former Black Flag screamer and stand-up comedian Henry Rollins, he has one of the finest 1/2 hours on cable TV: The Henry Rollins Show on IFC. The latest episode has Oliver Stone and HR made the director sound totally reasonable and not like a conspiracy nut (a great coup) plus there was some of his own unbridled commentary about the Iraq War- he's visited the troops there and still insists that it's a big boondoggle (which it is). Plus a nice letter to Laura Bush, suggesting that he and her have a lot more in common than George so they should hang out. Plus a great appearance by Sleater-Kinner (available on the website). All good and well but this guy deserves a whole hour to himself.